Wenham Now Has Permanent Police Chief

He's interim no more.

Thomas Perkins was unanimously named the permanent chief of the Wenham Police Department on Tuesday by the Board of Selectmen.

Perkins has been the department's interim chief since last July after then-Chief Kenneth Walsh retired. He now works as Director of Safety and Security at Endicott College in Beverly.

Walsh made the transition easy for Perkins, he said, and left a "good foundation."

Perkins has been with the department for 25 years and was previously captain for four years.

"Over the past nine months you have shown exemplary leadership and we couldn't be any happier, pleased and proud to have you as our permanent chief," said Molly Martins, chairwoman on the Board of Selectmen.

Selectmen took the vote with his family, members of the department and Essex Chief Peter Silva and Middleton Chief James DiGianvittorio, the current and former president of the Essex County Police Chiefs Association looking on.

Last summer, members of the department said they supported Perkins as the next chief.

“It is the feeling of the full-time members of this department that Captain Perkins is the obvious choice as the next Chief of Police,” Sgt. Jonathan Gray wrote to the Selectmen at the time.

At the time, Walsh also supported Perkins to fill the position.

"Hurricane, blizzard, earthquake, oh my," he said, looking back as his time as interim chief following his appointment to the position on Tuesday. "That is a lot to fit into a nine month period and we are still standing."

Perkins gave credit to the department's officers for their support from the start.

"They have risen to every occassion and they are really what makes this department shine," Perkins said.